[Hot Focus]: Malay rubber stocks continued to weaken in August and reached a three-year low

The inventory of natural rubber in Malaysia is 127900 tons in August 2024. From the trend of natural rubber inventory from January to August in 2024, it can be seen that the inventory of natural rubber in Malaysia has been declining since February this year. And inventory has fallen to the lowest level in nearly three years in August.

Natural rubber production in August was 35979 tons, an increase of 14.9% over the same period last year and a month-on-month decrease of 5.2%. Among them, the output of small gardens accounted for 88.1%, and that of state-owned plantations accounted for 11.9%. The weather conditions in Malaysia are more frequent this year, and the overall production is limited. Recently, affected by typhoons, rainfall and other weather, the production and supply of natural rubber have been hindered. Malaysia, once the world's largest natural rubber producer, is now in a weak state of annual output and has not improved significantly. According to the Malaysian rubber bureau, more than 86% of the country's natural rubber comes from local small farms. In recent years, labor shortage, abnormal climate and worsening diseases and insect pests have caused more and more small gardeners to give up harvesting. As of last year, nearly 37% of the rubber land had been abandoned, resulting in a very limited increase in rubber production.

Malaysia's natural rubber imports in August 2024 were 76515 tons, an increase of 26.2% over the same period last year and 34.3% month-on-month increase. Standard rubber, concentrated latex and other shapes of natural rubber are the main import categories, and the main import sources are Thailand, C ô te d'Ivoire, the Philippines, Myanmar and so on. Malaysia, once a major rubber grower and exporter in the world, has maintained a high degree of dependence on natural rubber imports under the circumstances of limited production growth. A few years ago, due to the impact of the global public toilet safety incident, Malaysia began to increase the production capacity of processing plants such as latex gloves in natural latex products, and then in the face of a substantial decline in rubber production upstream, its dependence on imports has remained high.

2024Total natural rubber consumption in Malaysia fell 14.7 per cent to 21451 tons in August from a year earlier, up 2 per cent from a month earlier. The latex glove industry is still the main force of natural rubber consumption in Malaysia, accounting for 59.3%, 9.2% for tires and hoses, 13.5% for rubber thread and 18% for other industries.In terms of segmentation, the demand for gloves is still in a weak state. It is well known that under the influence of global public health and safety events, the glove industry has become the main downstream consumption industry in China and Malaysia, and its pillar industry has weakened.

At the opening ceremony of the International Rubber Glove Conference and Exhibition (IRGCE) held by the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association in Kuala Lumpur from 3 to 5 September, the Malaysian Minister of Plantation and Commodities said: "No one knows as much about rubber as Malaysia does, and no one knows more about rubber gloves than Malaysia." He pointed out that rubber gloves have evolved from personal protective equipment in the field of health care to a necessity in many industries, including semiconductors. Malaysia remains at the centre of this growth, and consumption of rubber gloves is expected to grow by about 6-8 per cent a year. Malay strong milk demand may be expected to improve, to a certain extent, will stimulate the local rubber planting and cutting situation, when the Malay natural rubber inventory situation may be expected to improve.